Fresh Afield

Creative play for children doesn’t require expensive toys. In fact, the Toy Hall of Fame recently announced one of the new winners…the stick. One of the most perfect, naturally available (where you have trees or shrubs) versatile tool/toy.

Cliff White, our Art Director, mentioned this bit of news to several of us at a meeting the other day. We were all suddenly coming with ways we (as kids) used sticks: as weapons, in building forts/shelters, as art….

Given the economy, getting back to the basics is probably a good and necessary idea. However, I’m not sure that a stick as a gift is going to thrill a child—but getting them outside to explore, find and claim their own preferred stick would be the fun of it. Free outdoor play, exploration and imagination go hand in hand.

So don’t be a stick in the mud. Get out with your child so they can claim their own award-winning toy!

Just a reminder as people head out to the fields and forests this year for deer season—one careless moment can be devastating. The good thing is that, with so many hunters having passed their hunter education certification, safety is on the top of the mind of many. The bad thing is that people occasionally let their attention lapse.

Tree stands are one of those things that require special attention and care. Some horrible accidents I’ve known related to these including a man falling and breaking his neck, another falling and having his ankles crushed as he landed, another killed as he drew a loaded gun up into the stand. Accidents do happen, but there are things hunters can do to avoid them.

• Use only stands that meet standards of the Treestand Manufacturer’s Association (TMA) rated for your weight and all gear or equipment you wear or have with you on the stand.
• Always use a fall arrest system that meets TMA standards, which includes a full-body harness rated for your weight and any gear you wear or attach to yourself.
• Have your fall arrest system attached to the tree from the moment you leave the ground, throughout the hunt and when you descend to the ground.
• Always position yourself so that you step down onto your tree stand to test its stability.
• Always use a haul line to raise and lower your gear, including unloaded firearms, bows and arrows.

I’m hoping to see no reports of tree stand accidents this year. Remind your friends and family who use them to keep their safety in mind first so they can enjoy the deer later.

About this time each year I see woolly worms wherever I go. They’re on the sidewalk near my front door, they’re on the highway, they’re on my mind. So yesterday as we met to develop a presentation on climate change and our role in adapting to it, I naturally thought of them again. You know, predicting tough winters by reading woolly worm color? Being in a room with scientifically-minded people with a special interest in all things wild, I figured they might be able to answer the seasonal question: “what does the color pattern of woolly worms say about the coming winter?”

I must first make clear that I do understand that this is just an old tale (the scientist wanted to be sure I wasn’t spreading ignorance). However, I was impressed when he actually could describe what that old tale supposedly was. “The wider the middle rust-colored band, the milder the winter will be. The more that black on either ends dominates, the harsher the winter.” I asked if he knew of any studies done just to disprove this and he knew of none.

Fortunately, I later found useful website info on this subject: http://www.extension.org/pages/Wooly_Worms_and_the_Weather. One of these explained the basis of woolly worm color variation and why it wouldn’t be predictive of winter weather. While I appreciate knowing more about these interesting creatures, part of me would rather maintain some happy ignorance. I never believed they’d help predict winter weather, but keeping the option alive in the back of mind just makes makes it more fun to pay attention to them. I usually don’t go along with the idea ignorance is bliss, but in this case maybe it is….

Brisk autumn air is finally here! In the next few months, hundreds of thousands of Missourians will be taking to the woods and fields to enjoy it in all sorts of ways. I asked our new ombudsman what he was doing this weekend and he mentioned that he’d be taking his son out for quail hunting (this weekend was youth quail/pheasant hunting season). That outdoor connection in the form of hunting is still strong for many, but our modern lives strain the connection. Time to enjoy it and distance to get to it seem to be big barriers. But keeping the connections strong really come down to a very simple, personal choice. New hunters need help—and those with experience, whether they’re family or friends, are the ones who can best make the difference.

National studies have shown that one-third of new hunters and anglers are more than 21 years old. So in addition to thinking about helping youth get outdoor experiences, it’s important to offer a hand to adults you know who weren’t lucky enough to get help as a child. The new Apprentice Hunter Authorization allows people 16 years  and older who do not have hunter education certification to hunt in the presence of a hunter-certified adult age 21 and older (appropriate firearms permits are required in addition to this authorization permit). This gives someone the same chance offered to youth—to experience hunting in the presence of a more experienced mentor. A person can get the Apprentice Hunter authorization (plus required hunting permits) for two consecutive years. If they’re interested in hunting in future years, they’ll need to become hunter education certified.

This year we have a new addition to our calendar offerings. Missouri’s Outdoor Heritage calendar celebrates hunting and fishing, while keeping in mind how that love of the outdoors is handed down from person to person. One of our designers, Les Fortenberry, did an incredible job of creating  it. He wove together old images, new scenes and items handed down from his own grandfather. It’s a labor of love of the outdoors and I think that passion shows on every page.

Who would think that watching birds at the backyard feeder or going farther afield to catch sight of an eagle or falcon might generate billions of dollars? Apparently it will if enough people are doing it.

I just saw a new report from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service that 71 million people enjoy watching, feeding or photographing wildlife. (That was based on 2006 surveys—up 8% from a 2001 survey). In doing so, they spent $45.7 billion on equipment and trips. That in turn generated more than $122 billion in economic output, more than 1 million jobs and $18 billion nationally in local, state and federal tax revenue. That $45.7 billion is more than the revenue from all spectator sports, amusement parks, arcades, bowling centers and skiing facilities.

About 2.25 million Missourians make up part of the 71 million total. They spent almost $870 million in retail sales that generated another $700 million in wages and tax revenues that impacted our state’s overall economy. That hummingbird juice and those sunflower seeds in feeders sure do add up!

I attended the opening of a new indoor archery and air rifle range this week at Linn State Technical College. It’s in the lower level of their Activity Center. The Missouri Department of Conservation provided some partnership funds to help Linn Tech develop it. A variety of their staff pitched in to create it. A local artist also added a wildlife scene along one wall.

It will be a little gem of a place for Linn Tech students as well as local schools, youth groups and community members to use—whether they’re learning beginning archery or more advanced skills.

Conservation Commissioner Chip McGeehan (who is also an avid bowhunter) and Assistant Director Tim Ripperger joined other MDC staff, students and staff from Linn Tech, and local community members to dedicate the range.

A few schools in the area are already engaged in the Missouri National Archery in the Schools Program (MoNASP), so they’ll find this an especially useful facility. However, the new range promises to be an attraction community-wide.

Our goal is to help Missourians continue to stay engaged in the outdoors (even if it means learning skills indoors at first). Across the state, the Conservation Department supports 70 unstaffed outdoor ranges which include about 30+ archery ranges. We also manage five staffed shooting ranges. Partnerships like this one with Linn Tech are essential to help stretch tax and permit dollars so our agency can continue to help keep Missouri’s nature healthy and outdoor recreation plentiful.

The recent return of six Missouri Conservation Agents from flood-damaged communities in Louisiana reminded me of the brave actions that goes on largely out of sight and out of the minds of most of us. Although Missourians probably have seen all sorts of Conservation Department staff standing side by side in their communities to sandbag levees and to clear ice-damaged trees from roads, I doubt people know that they’re also helping in crises across the country.

It’s one thing to read about a hurricane on the news and another to go into it. From one of the Missouri Conservation Agents who was part of a response team to Hurricane Gustav: “We were met with temperatures in the 90s, 100% humidity, torrential rains, no electricity and mosquitoes big enough to carry you off. There were trees down everywhere across power lines, houses, vehicles and roads.” In some crises they’ve helped with search and rescue, while in others it has been to help keep the peace.

In the case of major Western forest fires, our specially trained foresters have joined others from around the country to protect property and lives—and the woods themselves. I asked Mike Huffman, Forestry Unit Chief for the Conservation Department and one of the many Missourians who have played a role in this, about the experience.

“They may drop us into a wilderness area  with food rations and water for a week with fires all around us,” he said. “There’s nothing like it for learning leadership. I had a crew of 19 people and had to get them out there, do the firefighting and get back home safely. We were all immersed, 24 hours a day, for several days at a time in a highly stressful situation.”

“Our experience out West,” he noted, “helps us back home in Missouri—for instance when we set up emergency coordination teams of Conservation Department staff from all our divisions to help in the peak of the ice storm that hit southwest Missouri in 2007, or to deal with floods that hit Ellington this year.”

The federal government reimburses our state in many cases for help with emergency efforts. What the individuals who serve in these difficult, potentially life-threatening situations receive on a personal level, though, has nothing to do with economics. Conservation Agent Mike Abdon summed it up when he said, “the look of devastation and gratitude that poured from the faces of the citizens cannot be described in words, but will live on in my memory.”

I just wrote about Take a Child Outside Week a few days ago. Well, this is the week to celebrate the outdoors in a number of ways! Since 1972, the fourth Saturday of September has been National Hunting and Fishing Day. It was created to celebrate traditional outdoor sports and their role in conservation of wildlife. Missouri is fortunate to have Wonders of Wildlife museum in Springfield serving as home of this national awareness effort.

Although there are chances to get outdoors and enjoy hunting and fishing throughout the state, three special events by the Missouri Conservation Department will focus on celebrating National Hunting and Fishing Day on Sept. 27, 2008. They will be held at the James A. Reed Conservation Area near Kansas City, at the Andy Dalton Shooting Range and Outdoor Education Center near Springfield and at the Jay Henges Shooting Range and Outdoor Education Center near St. Louis.

Beyond the pure outdoor enjoyment that fishing and hunting provide, there are other benefits that may not be so obvious. Economists have shown that Missouri’s 1.3 million hunters and anglers generate $4.2 billion in economic benefits to our state. That includes about 46,000 jobs. As I noted on an earlier blog post, the permits they purchase along with the federal taxes on purchase of related hunting and fishing equipment directly support our agency in helping keep all Missouri’s wildlife healthy.

It should really be “Take a Child Outside Year” but a week is a good start. Ideally, children should be able to spend time outdoors in nature close to home and on their own. But as Richard Louv noted in his book “Last Child in the Woods,” that’s less and less likely to happen without some conscious effort.

So when Liz Baird of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences invited Missouri and other states to join in a “Take A Child Outside Week” Sept. 24-30, we were happy to do so. We added a few of our nature centers to their website as destinations for Missouri families. It really shouldn’t require a much of a trip, though. Just take your child for a walk to explore nature close to home, go fish at a nearby pond or pack a picnic and head to a park. It doesn’t have to be complicated—it just has to happen.

The Missouri Department of Conservation’s “Discover Nature” programs are focused throughout the year on helping kids and adults make those outdoor connections—whether it’s through schools, nature centers, outdoor education centers or at home. With childhood obesity at an all-time high, with known healthy benefits of time spent outdoors, there’s no time to delay.

So start today simply by taking your child outside to look, to explore. We’ll be here throughout the year to help you find new ways to make it a healthy habit.

Yesterday, Bonnie and Bernadette (two of our editors and slow food enthusiasts) picked some pawpaw fruits from the trees in one of the courtyards at our office. One was riper than the others and had an interesting banana/citrus scent. There is a patch of pawpaw trees growing along the creek where I live and every spring I see their blood-red blossoms. But somehow I’ve never actually found a pawpaw fruit in the autumn. Are the animals getting to them first? Or are they just blended in with the leaves then hit the ground and get buried in brush?

A few years ago in all the discussion of Lewis & Clark travels, the story was told that all they had to eat near the end of their trip was pawpaw fruit—but that some of them developed stinging eyes as a result. It turns out that the diary entry by William Clark on Sept. 18, 1806 notes that.

I’m heading out to the woods this weekend to see if I can find some. If I do, I might try the pawpaw cheesecake recipe.